Ya Da, the special skills actor from the Provincial Acrobatics Troupe, took leave to follow Yan Sinian around for a few days.
He finally understood what Si Xi had hinted at before.
"Don’t be fooled by Senior Yan’s aloof demeanor, he’s actually quite easy to get along with as long as you don’t provoke him. He’s not like many other quirky seniors in the Xuanmen who start beating people up at the drop of a hat."
"Speaking of which, when you’re with Senior Yan, you need to be careful around his little junior sister. Whatever you do, don’t offend her; you might as well think of her as Senior Yan’s daughter."
Every evening, whether at home or in the hospital, Yan Sinian always took two minutes to call his junior sister.
Their conversations were about everyday topics like what she had eaten, if she had much homework, or any news from school.
Just as Yan Sinian hung up the phone one day, Yan Qiying walked in.
"Were you on the phone with Qingqing again?"
Yan Sinian hummed expressionlessly, losing the gentleness he’d just exhibited.
"I don’t know how you hit it off so well with that little girl," Yan Qiying said with a laugh, then suddenly turned his head to look around, "You know, I’ve been feeling like something’s off in your room recently."
Yan Sinian remained silent.
Yan Qiying didn’t find anything and muttered to himself, "Probably just getting sensitive in my old age. Oh right, you have a surgery tonight, don’t forget."
Without waiting for his son’s response, Yan Qiying left cheerfully.
Ya Da crawled out of the wardrobe, wiping off sweat.
"That scared me to death. I didn’t expect Senior Yan’s father to be so perceptive."
Then he saw Yan Sinian frown.
Yan Sinian, with a stern face, cast a Dust-Removal Spell, cleaning all the coats in the wardrobe.
Ya Da slapped his forehead.
That’s right, Senior Yan also had a thing for cleanliness.
Overall, Ya Da felt his interaction with Senior Yan had been pretty decent.
They waited until Friday evening, the day before the operation.
Yue Qingqing came to the hospital with her backpack to discuss the next day’s plan.
Ya Da had borrowed a car, "I need to take you guys to meet someone first."
The car carrying Yan Sinian and Yue Qingqing eventually stopped in front of the police station.
The chief personally received them.
"Ah, I don’t know what’s been happening these past few years. Ordinary cases have decreased, but these special cases keep cropping up."
"You should already know that this incident is related to the Wood Carving."
In the conference room, the chief opened the box, revealing a crudely made Wood Carving lying on a soft pad with just a faint outline of a fox discernible.
"This is one of the Wood Carvings we confiscated. Supposedly, the method is to drip one’s blood on it once a day. If the user prays sincerely, they will gradually become more beautiful and win back their husband’s heart," explained the chief.
Ya Da added seriously, "After receiving the notification from Zhuancheng, Chief Cui immediately dispatched Chi Wencheng to investigate."
"Chi is one of the best in the department, meticulous and skilled in disguise. We thought it’d be an easy catch, but two days after arriving, Chief Cui couldn’t get in touch with Chi anymore and suspects he might have been harmed."
Ya Da clearly had some rapport with Chi Wencheng, and his tone was very somber.
The chief sighed, "Now we don’t even know how many people have gotten their hands on this Wood Carving. From what we’ve gathered, at least ten, well-off, educated women have it, and they actually believe such unfounded nonsense."
"We sent officers to visit two or three of these women to destroy the Wood Carvings, but they refused and even threatened to file complaints against us. Ah, it’s very difficult to carry out our work. We can only hope that you can start from the source and find the person responsible."